Virgin Orbit helps in the fight against COVID-19

Virgin Orbit has followed in the footsteps of Mercedes and Tesla and began using its resources to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

The British satellite company has designed and developed a new ventilator to help aid in the fight against the deadly pandemic, and best of all, the new ventilators where designed with mass production in mind.

Virgin recently formed a group called the Bridge Ventilator Consortium that worked closely with medical-device experts and physicians from the University of Texas in Austin and the University of California Irvine (UCI) to come up with a quick solution to the ventilator shortage being felt around the world.

The new ventilators are called ‘bridge ventilators’ and are designed for patients that have partially recovered from their symptoms and not those being held in intensive care. The thought process behind this decision was to free up more powerful, intensive care capable ventilators for patients in more severe conditions.

According to Dr. Brian J.F. Wong, an assistant chairman of otolaryngology at UCI, “Getting ventilators out there is very important to save lives. The demand outstrips supply, so it is important the government, industry, academia, non-profits and the community work together to identify solutions, and design and construct them as fast as possible.”

Virgin Orbit hopes to have the bridge ventilators will be ready for mass production in late April.

Along with Virgin Orbit mass producing ventilators, Virgin Galactic has made significant donations to a number of hospitals. These include several hundred N95 safety masks, Powered Air Purifying Respirators, and boxed lunches to medical centres.

All over the globe, we are seeing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by our in-house flight doctors, our team is working to provide help. We have donated medical supplies to local hospitals including several hundred N95 masks plus suits, and gloves. https://t.co/0okTApTmr6pic.twitter.com/JstEG1TqRD

W are donating PAPRs (Powered Air Purifying Respirators) to local hospitals. These machines offer additional protection for the front-line workers who are in the closest physical proximity to those patients suffering from COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/iaVPRGTOm4